Media.Knet.Ca

Elijah Harper comes to Balmertown.... Mr. Harper toured the KO offices in Balmertown to learn more about our broadband applications such as Telehealth and KiHS, the Internet High School.

During his visit, he participated in a videoconference with KO's sub offices in Sioux Lookout and Thunder Bay.

Mr. Harper shared his experiences with Information Communications Technologies that date back over twenty years.

He will be briefing Phil Fontaine, the National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, who is expected to visit Balmertown in September.

To see more photos, click here. The KO Telehealth news story and pictures about Mr. Harper's visit can also be accessed by clicking here.

Good day, my name is Nicole Morris and I have been working for Keewaytinook Okimakanak, in the Research Department as a summer student. One of my projects is to compile a list of Successful Students from the KIHS, to be displayed in the First Nations School web site.

If you have enrolled in KIHS and it was a success for you, we welcome you to share your experiences in participating in this project.  We are searching for information about students and their successes they experienced and are experiencing from their time at KIHS.

We will also be inviting other students from other schools to share their stories for this project as well. Questions will be asked of the students and we will work with your answers to produce a story about your experiences. These interviews and sharing will help others to get to know the student and their work.

There may be a lot of questions but most are easy to answer. The more detailed obtained during the interviews will help others learn about how KIHS has benefited the students and your communities. We hope to post the student profiles on the First Nations SchoolNet web site at http://firstnationschools.ca. This will give students an opportunity to share their experiences with the ICT equipment and encourage other students that are still living in their community to attend school.

Contact me for a copy of the questions for this project. This will be an on-going project for the Student Stories and Profiles.

We would like to have your information as soon as possible and would greatly appreciate being able to work with everyone willing to share their stories with us.

nicolemorris@knet.ca

toll free 1 877 737 5638 extension 51263
local  Thunder Bay # at 622 2812
(fax)  # 622 2861

Alternatively you may also contact Wesley McKay at

wesleymckay@knet.ca

Jim Sapay, Carleton Blackhawk and Tom Kuzemchuk from the Northern Nishnawbe Education Council worked with the K-Net team to develop a strategy for rolling out the NNEC video conferencing network across the Sioux Lookout district in each of the Wahsa Distance Education Learning Centres. Video conferencing equipment is presently installed in the Sioux Lookout NNEC sites (at the main admin building, Pelican Falls First Nations High School and at the Wahsa DE building) and in Thunder Bay at the Dennis Cromarty High School.

With the support of Industry Canada's First Nations SchoolNet program, each of the community learning centres delivering Wahsa high schools are now being outfitted with the same video conferencing systems. This equipment is intended to support NNEC and Wahsa to further develop and deliver their services for the Sioux Lookout District First Nations.

Former KO Director of Health Orpah McKenzie is in charge of Aboriginal Affairs at the Northern Ontario Medical School. She is encouraging more NAN students to prepare for careers in medicine and other health care careers.

She is looking for First Nations to host medical students for four-week placements during their first year starting in the winter semester of 2006. The purpose of these visits is to familarize medical students with the health realities of day-to-day life for community members on reserve.  "Fort Severn, Deer Lake, North Spirit Lake, Keewaywin and Poplar Hill would be ideal sites for these placements," said Orpah... For more information, call her at 1-807-766-7311...

Check out the photos of her visit...

The activities completed by the Keewaytinook Okimakanak team and our First Nation partner communities and organizations are highlighted in the Final Report submitted to Industry Canada's First Nations SchoolNet program. As the Regional Management Organization for Ontario, Keewaytinook Okimakanak is delivering a variety of services to support First Nation schools across the province access Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and develop local connectivity solutions. Click here to see the final report (2.2M PDF file).

The report contains links to various documents that further describe the results of some of these services and activities. Some of these other reports include:

• Grade 8 On-line Supplementary Course delivery available at:
• http://knet.ca/documents/G8-2003-04-Year-end-Report-Draft.pdf
• Survey results for each Grade 8 course (science, math and english literacy) may be accessed at:
• http://g8.firstnationschools.ca/feedback.html
• Native Language Conference Final Report
• On-line Content Partnership Project Final Report

Fort Severn Chief and Council worked with their community elders and youth to support their nine day wilderness canoe trip from Beaver Lake back to their community and homes. Two elders and eighteen young people worked together to complete this trip of living off the land, harvesting wild game each day. The group hunted and fished along the journey. They made it back to Fort Severn late last night after a long day of paddling.

Cal Kenny from Keewaytinook Okimakanak who joined the elder's trip last fall, was asked once again to join this adventure in order to video tape and document this year's journey. The elder's trip last fall can be seen at http://fortsevern.firstnation.ca/washaho. Be sure to watch for Cal's next on-line production about this exciting trip.

Industry Canada officials meet with KO Executive Director and Public Works Manager via video conference.

Allan Anderson, Industry Canada's Regional Director of Information Technlogy and Applications for Ontario and Carl Seibel, FedNor's Telecommunications Officer toured the offices of KO Reseach Institute in Thunder Bay. They were briefed about some ICT research projects by Nicole Morris and Wesley McKay, two summer students working for KO this summer.

The two IC officials inspected the new high speed wireless service (100Mb to the KO office) in Thunder Bay and participated in a videoconference with KO's Geordi Kakepetum, Peter Campbell and Brian Walmark. Allan Anderson told Geordi Kakepetum that First Nations connectivity remains a top priority in this year's budget. Too see additional photos, click here.

Carl is guiding Allan through Northwestern Ontario and will be in Sioux Lookout for meetings with staff of KNET Services. Here they are visiting Wabigoon First Nation to see the installation of the two-way satellite internet service by KO staff as part of the First Nation SchoolNet / RMO initiative.

Allan and Carl are travelling up to Sioux Lookout to visit KO's K-Net Services later today. Tomorrow they will be visiting Lac Seul First Nation to see their wireless network that is under construction to serve their three communities.

Dr. Levi Obijiofor who is a lecturer with the School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, met with the Keewaytinook Okimakanak team and other partners on Thursday, July 29 and Friday, July 30. Levi is involved in a project with a Canadian - Asian Pacific agency to prepare a study about the use of ICTs in indigenous communities. The actual Project Title is called - "A comparative ethnographic study of the impact of new communication technologies on Indigenous communities in Australia, Canada and New Zealand."

Florence Woolner acted as Levi's host for his trip providing him with a rich cross-cultural experience including various Blueberry Festival events as well as a trip to the Eagle Lake Traditional Powwow. Click here to check the pictures of Levi meeting with Brian Walmark via video conference.

Levi spent the first part of his trip in Sioux Lookout, meeting with different people and conducting some interviews for this study. On Tuesday, August 3, he travelled to Fort Severn First Nation to continue his interviews and research. He will be travelling back to Australia starting on Saturday, Aug 7.
 
We hope that by introducing him to K-Net, the work and the team we are involved with in developing these on-line resources and connections that further collaboration and opportunities might arise in the future.

The final report of the activities and finding from the Kuhkenah Smart International Gathering held on March 17-18, 2004 is now available on-line. This report was produced by the conference facilitators John Rowlandson, Florence Woolner and Jennifer Moreau.

Click here to read the report (466K PDF document)

National Chief coming to Balmertown

National Chief Phil Fontaine discussed telecommunications opportunities and KO applications and programs with Geordi Kakepetum, KO’s Executive Director during the AFN meeting in Charlottetown, P.E.I. The National Chief pledged to tour KO’s Balmertown sub office in September. While in Balmertown, Fontaine will be briefed on ICT applications such as KiHS, the Internet High School and the Telehealth expansion. KO shared its accumulated knowledge and experience gained from Industry Canada’s Smart Communities and First Nations SchoolNet programs with a variety of Chiefs and other First Nations including, NAN Grand Chief Stan Beady and Union Grand Chief Earl Commanda. See photos